Concerned about Covid, China will mark its borders at the top of Everest

China will install a “demarcation line” on the summit of Everest to avoid any risk of contamination with Covid-19 by mountain climbers from Nepal.

China, the first country hit by the epidemic since the end of 2019, has contained the disease largely from the spring of 2020 and now fears a return of infections from abroad. While the border has been effectively closed since March 2020, the country now intends to extend its surveillance to the snow-capped summit of the world, which it shares with Nepal at 8,848 meters above sea level.

China News Agency reported on Sunday that high mountain guides will erect a demarcation line at the top before allowing climbers to attack climbing on the Chinese side (north). According to the official news agency, the announcement was made at a press conference by the president of the Tibetan Mountaineering Association.

New China has not specified how Beijing concretely intends to define its territory on the narrow summit of the world’s tallest mountain, where only a few climbers can stand at the same time. The agency quoted Tibetan officials as confirming that they would take “the most stringent epidemic prevention measures” to avoid contact with climbers from the south.

These Chinese measures were announced while on the Nepalese side of the mountain, more than 30 medical evacuations have already been carried out from the primary camp at 5,364 meters above sea level since the start of the season, and some climbers have been carrying the Coronavirus. Nepal, India’s neighbor, has been hit hard by the second wave of the epidemic, while the Himalayan state plans to restart tourism this summer after the 2020 season drops to nothing.